Lead, Asbestos Problems Strike Middlesex Schools

November 11, 1989|By MARK FELSENTHAL Staff Writer

SALUDA — The nightmare of asbestos and lead contamination has become a reality for another area school system.

Middlesex County School Superintendent James W. Goforth learned last week that floor tiles containing asbestos were improperly removed from St. Clare Walker School and that water in some taps at Wilton Elementary School contained levels of lead far above the safe limit recommended by the government.

Tiles containing asbestos, whose fibers have been linked to cancer, are permitted to exist in school structures. But in St. Clare Walker at Cook's Corner, more tiles were removed than state regulations allow. Dust created by the work is being tested to see if it contains asbestos, and the area has been closed off, Goforth said.

At Wilton, in Hartfield, staff and children now drink bottled water and water is run through the system for 15 minutes each morning to flush out water that may have absorbed lead.

Ingesting high quantities of lead has been tied to anemia, kidney damage and impaired thinking. Congress has passed laws in the last two years that attempt to control the risk of contamination from both lead and asbestos in public buildings.

At St. Clare Walker, the county's aging middle school, tiles containing asbestos had to be pried up to reach a heating pipe that was leaking.

County schools complied with federal regulations in 1988 that required a plan showing how they would manage asbestos in schools. Asbestos exists in con struction materials and is not harmful until it is stirred up and becomes airborne. The regulations are designed to prevent this.

As part of the regulations, the county's school maintenance worker, Ed South, took a two-day course in Richmond a year ago that covered the requirements and safe handling of asbestos.

South sealed the tiles in a plastic bag and followed other recommended precautions, but did not wear a respirator while doing the work, which the regulations called for, according to the superintendent.

The regulations also say that no more than three square feet of asbestos tile can be removed.

Goforth was out of the county for several days after hearing about the leaking pipe. When he returned, he discovered that to get to the leak, 44 square feet of tile had been taken up in a seventh-grade math classroom. On Wednesday, an investigator from the state Department of Labor, responding to a complaint from an unspecified person, notified Goforth that she was investigating the classroom.

"What the maintenance man did is nothing we haven't done six or seven times already in the last 10 years, but this is the firsttime we did it under the new regulations," Goforth said. South should not be blamed or seen as a scapegoat in the matter, he said.

A Department of Education inspector looked at the classroom Friday, Goforth said.

"My impression was that if you are pursuing the leak it will allow you to go beyond three square feet and you will not be cited," Goforth said. School systems may be fined for improper handling of materials containing asbestos.

Goforth is having dust from the room tested to see if it contains asbestos, he said. Because the mastic, or glue, that holds the tiles to the floor does not contain asbestos, it is less likely that the dust is contaminated, he added.

The test results should be ready Monday, he said. The room is now closed to use. Goforth would not comment on whether any disciplinary action would be taken against the maintenance worker.

In the other matter, the school superintendent said he learned as a result of voluntary testing that water coming through taps at Wilton, where children attend the first through sixth grades, contained high levels of lead.

A memo from the state Department of Education in April explained the 1988 Lead Contamination Control Act and encouraged schools to test their water. All wells and a random selection of taps at all schools were tested, Goforth said. High lead levels at Wilton led to more tests, which were taken Monday before school started.

Water from nine of 14 taps tested showed higher levels of lead than the federal Environmental Protection Agency recommends. EPA guidelines recommend taking action if lead exists in quantities greater than 20 parts per billion. Taps at Wilton registered as high as 400 parts per billion, Goforth said.

The school's water shows high acidity, which may cause corrosion of the pipes and cause lead to be absorbed by the water, he said. The school now lets water run through its pipes for 15 minutes every morning and has brought in bottled water. In addition, Goforth plans to have a chemical filter installed in the well to reduce the acidity of the water.

Goforth said he believed the problems were bigger image problems than they were health hazards.

He said he was especially sensitive to public reaction to news of possible asbestos and lead contamination in Middlesex schools. "I sat back and read about the York schools and thought, `It can't happen here,'" he said. Discovery of airborne asbestos in York County schools caused schools to close and cost the county $45,000 in October.

"As a parent, I'd want to think if I was sending my child to school they wouldn't be exposed to lead, asbestos, or drugs, that the environment was safe and secure," Goforth said.

The Department of Education official had said flushing the system would probably take care of the lead problem, the superintendent said, but he added that he intended to take further steps.